Large gang of infirmaries

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The Große Siechenbande was a band of robbers in the Rhineland at the time of the transition from the 17th to the 18th century. The members, who were mostly related to one another, disguised themselves as lepers and lived mainly in the infirmary in the Rhineland.

Between 1698 and 1710, the infirmary gang committed at least 18 murders and attempted murders in addition to a large number of less serious crimes, which were proven in criminal proceedings between 1710 and 1712. These were robberies and robbery murders after street robberies with low yield, because mostly only the victim's clothing and small amounts of money were stolen.

Despite their health, the gang members lived in the leprosy homes in Cologne , Aachen , Düsseldorf and Ratingen , where they acquired or forged the sickness letter required for this and simulated the disease themselves in a very professional manner. Since leprosy hardly occurred at the end of the 17th century, the members of the gang provided the entire occupancy in some of the homes. Although traces of the crimes were found in the vicinity of the remote leper shelters, the robbers remained undisturbed by the judiciary for a long time due to their leprosy status.

The gang was exposed after the arrest of some of the grandsons of the then 68-year-old leader of the gang, Peter Schieper: The children were caught stealing fruit and boasted about the deeds of their families, which led to the extensive uncovering of the machinations of the infirm gang: Using torture numerous family members confessed to their deeds. In criminal trials under Charles V's embarrassing court order , they were sentenced to heavy sentences; the main offenders were always sentenced to death. The gang leader Schieper committed suicide in the dungeon before it was carried out .

As a result of the trials and based on the knowledge about the actual magnitude of the leprosy diseases, the leprosy houses in the Duchy of Jülich and in the city of Cologne and Kurköln were completely closed. The remaining "real" lepers from the Electorate of Cologne were brought to the Leprosenhaus in Bonn .

Remarks

  1. ↑ Martin Uhrmacher : Report on the activities of the “large infirmary gang” during the conference law, religion and life course prospects. Different Strategies in Dealing with Poverty in Early Modern Europe , October 20, 2006-21. October 2006, Trier, conference report
  2. ↑ According to the watchmaker
  3. ↑ Udo Fleck: Thieves - Robbers - Murderers , p. 28
  4. ↑ Fleck, p. 29

literature

  • Udo Fleck: "Thieves - Robbers - Murderers". Study on the collective delinquency of Rhenish robber gangs at the turn of the 18th to the 19th century . 2003 ( hbz-nrw.de [PDF; accessed on October 21, 2007] dissertation at the University of Trier).
  • Norbert Finzsch : Authorities and lower classes. On the history of the Rhenish lower classes towards the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century . Steiner, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-515-05459-6 (also: Cologne, Univ., Habil.-Schr., 1988/89).